Holy Weapon
| rarity = Common | type = Unit Enchantment | casting_cost = | combat_casting_cost = | upkeep_cost = | research_cost = | effects = Target Normal Unit or Hero receives with Melee- and non-magical Ranged Attacks, and can ignore the effect of Weapon Immunity. }} Holy Weapon is a Common Unit Enchantment of the Realm. For , it may be cast on a friendly Normal Unit or Hero on the overland map to empower its weapons with divine energy. As a result, the unit receives a bonus whenever it makes a , , or , allowing it to inflict more on average with these attacks. In addition, the unit can now bypass the effects of Weapon Immunity if it could not do so already. The effect can be maintained for an Upkeep Cost of per turn, but will automatically dissipate if this can not be paid by the caster. Alternatively, a cheaper version of the same spell may be cast for during combat, which should temporarily bestow the same bonus on a unit for the duration of the battle, with no permanent effects or Upkeep Cost. Unfortunately, this feature is not working at all in the latest official version of the game, and the spell will fail to confer any of its benefits when cast in battle. Effects Holy Weapon imbues the weapons of the target with divine energy. This allows the unit to more often strike true with its attacks, increasing the average amount of damage it can deliver onto its enemies. Furthermore, these weapons are now considered magical, in case they previously were not. Affected Attacks Holy Weapon, as its name implies, can only enhance attacks that are considered to be made with weapons. These are and Counter Attacks, , and . The spell does not affect , , Gaze Attacks, and or Special Damage of any kind. Despite the logical assumption, are also not enhanced by Holy Weapon in the latest official version of the game, although they are in the unofficial patches, starting with Insecticide. To Hit Bonus The main effect of Holy Weapon is a bonus of to the unit's chance with the affected attacks. In other words, each die of their Attack Rolls now has an extra to score a successful hit, which increases the average amount of "raw" (i.e. before mitigation) that these attacks will deliver. This benefit is cumulative with all other bonuses of this type, although it may be worth noting that the final chance can never be more than 100%. This means that modifiers can never increase a unit's maximum potential - they improve its average output instead. Example :A unit of Nomad Swordsmen contains , each of them possessing a Melee Strength of with a basic chance of . This means that whenever they perform a Melee Attack or Counter Attack, they execute six separate attacks (one for each Swordsmen), using 3 dice (corresponding to their strength), each of which has a 30% chance (the base hit rate) of inflicting a point of "raw" (or score a successful hit, in other words). Thus, their average output will be × × = . :Out of these three factors, Holy Weapon increases the last one, the unit's chance . It does not improve the maximum that the unit can cause - these are defined by the other two characteristics. However, considering the amount of random rolls here, achieving that result with only a is actually extremely unlikely, and this is what this enchantment helps with. With , the new average becomes × × = . This is higher than the original - an increase of exactly 10% of the maximum × = . :Naturally, this also means that the higher the target's maximum potential, the more it will benefit from this spell. Although in terms of relative , the difference may seem less pronounced as the unit's original chance increases, the absolute gain from Holy Weapon actually remains the same all the way up to . Magical Attack Units enchanted with Holy Weapon are no longer considered to wield "normal" weapons. That is, when fighting against opponents with Weapon Immunity, the ability can no longer trigger to increase the of the target. This can further improve the average output of the enchanted unit when engaging such opponents - sometimes drastically. Naturally, this aspect of Holy Weapon will have no effect on units that can already bypass this immunity, such as Heroes, or units created in a Town with an Alchemists' Guild. Holy Arms It is possible to enchant all of the Wizard's eligible units with Holy Weapon at once using the Very Rare Global Enchantment. Although it has a fairly high base Casting Cost of , its per-turn Upkeep Cost is only , breaking even with Holy Weapon in this respect at a mere 10 affected units. When cast, it automatically removes all active individual Holy Weapon enchantments from the player's units, replacing them with its own effect. This is superior in that it may not be dispelled from the units themselves, but it does create a single point of failure instead - removing the Global Enchantment itself will also disperse the Holy Weapon effects from every affected unit. Usage Holy Weapon may be cast both overland and in combat, for the basic Casting Costs of and respectively. If the casting is successful, the game will prompt for a friendly Normal Unit or Hero to be selected as the spell's target. On the overland map, this typically requires clicking on the army stack that contains the unit which, in turn, brings up a list view of all units in that stack, allowing for the target to be picked individually. Only units not already under the effect of Holy Weapon may be chosen. Once the spell is cast, a glowing outline appears around the unit (unless it is overridden by a stronger enchantment); and Holy Weapon, along with its icon, will be displayed in the unit statistics window when inspecting this unit. The overland version of Holy Weapon has an Upkeep Cost of that must be paid at the beginning of every turn to keep the spell in effect. This is automatically deducted by the game from the owner's pool as long as the enchantment remains in existence. If there is insufficient in the pool to pay for the spell, then it will dissipate, ceasing its effect immediately. It may also be cancelled manually by left-clicking its name in the unit statistics window of its target unit. However, this action can only be performed outside of combat, during the caster's own turn. The combat version of Holy Weapon does not carry over to the overland map: it will disappear automatically as soon as the battle is over. As such, it has no Upkeep Cost; but at the same time may not be manually removed by its caster either (as enchantments can not be cancelled during a battle). It's worth noting that in the official version of the game, units still count as Normal Units on the overland map. This means that Holy Weapon may be freely targeted at such a unit overland, even though the game would not allow this during combat. The enchantment will then work as normal if the target enters any battle. This is considered to be a bug however, and is no longer the case in the unofficial patches, which will instead also return an error when trying to target the unit overland. Acquisition As a Common Spell of the Realm, Holy Weapon may become available to any Wizard who acquires at least Spellbook. With none, the spell can naturally not be learned during the campaign. This is the minimum requirement for it to be traded for, appear in Treasure, or be found in the spoils of victory when conquering the Fortress of a rival Wizard who already knows it. The base chance for Holy Weapon to be researchable (at some point) in the campaign is roughly 30% (with book), which gradually increases with the amount of Spellbooks possessed or found during gameplay. With or more, the spell is certain to show up sooner or later, unless acquired from another source. It has a Research Cost of , although its research is quicker for Wizards possessing the Sage Master Retort, or a bookshelf containing or more. Holy Weapon may also be selected as a starting spell by any Wizard with at least books. In this case, it will be available for casting as soon as the game begins. Strategy Despite sounding like a pretty basic spell, Holy Weapon is in fact quite dangerous - especially when cast on high-tier Normal Units and Heroes. bonuses can be exceptionally potent. They can help weaker units take on enemies with high Defense scores, and increase the overall combat usefulness of Melee- and Ranged Attack units alike. In addition, the enchanted unit's ability to bypass Weapon Immunity can be very helpful against certain types of creatures, such as Werewolves, that are much harder to injure when their immunity triggers than when it doesn't. Known Bugs When cast during battle, Holy Weapon has no effect at all. On the other hand, when it is cast overland and does work as intended, removing it during combat will fail to negate the unit's ability to bypass Weapon Immunity. Although the former bug is fixed in the Unofficial Patch 1.50, the latter remains uncorrected as of yet. In addition, Holy Weapon is sometimes reported to be dispelled twice by Dispel Magic and similar spells. Category:Unit Enchantments Category:Life